Were the Dark Ages really “Dark”?
The darkness of an age can be measured this way:
the quality of daily lives, the level of communication and cooperation, the
level of advancement in technology and society, the average life span, and the
death rate. Important events can also describe the era, and so shape how
all mentioned factors result as an aftermath. The Dark Ages do live up to their name, because of how the average life was in poor conditions compared to the past and the other regions around it, how technological and intellectual development was low or even detrimental, how everyone was either at constant conflict with very little unity among the people, and how the death rate was very high. This "darkness" evaluation will first explain and compare Europe during the Dark Ages to Europe in the past and other powerful empires that existed during its time. It will then explain the ordinary lives of the people during the Dark Ages in secular terms then spiritual terms, due to how important religion was at that specific period of time. At last, it will then evaulate the important events of the Dark Ages, explaining how the events portrayed the era in a dark manner.
Just before the Dark Ages was the period of the
Roman Empire. The massive size, wealth, and power of it can describe the
overall life style of the era at least for the richer of people of the upper
class. There were slaves and Plebeians, but the Empire also consisted of
advanced public facilities that improved the daily lives of people. There were
public bathes, aqueducts for running water, and a certain degree of medication.
Other signs of power include knowledge from philosophers and the architecture
of buildings. The Dark Ages that followed in Europe showed none of that. Around
the same time, the Muslims and the Chinese clearly had a superior lifestyle than
what came after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Muslim caliphates represented a time of prosperity between the united Muslims with many technological developments to develop a whole united empire, while Europe at the time was completedly isolated and lost within itself. Every Chinese dynasty represented a moment of peace and unity, with the "Mandate of Heaven" justifying each rule and appealing to the average people. It wasn't until the end
of the Crusades that Europe became less isolated and had contact with other
regions, vastly improving the populace's daily lives.
During the Dark Ages, the cities were ransacked
and broken down, therefore removing all functions of public facilities. There
were no running water through aqueducts, and people relied on wells, which were
considerably more difficult to rely on. Farming as a result turned a lot less
efficient. People moved to small villages or worked as serfs/peasants
under powerful people. Either way, people were isolated from what happened
around them, and the lack of communicate often disabled them from learning of important
events or dangers. Furthermore, the people were hardly united. Different lords
of different estates would attack each other for land almost constantly. The
lack of a central government, cooperation, and communicate turned each shelter
into an internal world. The high crime-rates (if there were even laws)
hindered any personnel on the outside. This also meant that there weren't
any trade, and the producing of goods was limited to the population within a
household. These were clearly a lack of technology, lack of cooperation, lack
of communication, and lack of unity in secular terms.
The daily basis for serfs was similar to slaves,
only that they truly relied on the lord. They lived in uneven conditions,
usually with a very small percentage of food that they worked hard for, poor
sheltering, possibly heavy taxes, and lack of decent medication. The main
reason for the protection from the lord were technically because of the
lords themselves, causing constant warfare across the land. Other than suffering
and hardworking, the higher population of serfs and peasants found it really
easy to die. One can offend a "superior" such as a knight
accidentally and end up being decapitated. One can accidentally come across a
skirmish between warriors, or be directly raided by bandits. Or one can simply
die of sickness at a really young age. The degrading of society also
brought a lack of sophisticated medication, and made everyone prone to
sickness. Another side effect was that the average life span was heavily
decreased during these times.
Everything explained above focused on
secular subjects. An important factor that could've easily defined
the Dark Ages was Christianity. Nearly all peasants and lords of Europe
believed exclusively in Christianity. Most that defied were often
persecuted, and this represented the only unity of the Dark Ages. The powerful
factor of this religion was that it convinced the peasants to work. It seemly
supported them, although it was often an excuse for the quest for power by
Kings, lords, or the Pope. The whole point of their lives was to work hard and
to enjoy paradise. The darkness of the Dark Ages focuses mainly on secular
factors, and if the common people were so eager to leave the world, then the
world may possibly not be very friendly. It may have brought an upside in moral
to "leave" the world of the Dark Ages (which would contradict why the
Dark Ages weren't dark), but Christianity also represented the misconceptions
of the time. This post is not a fight about religion- it's focusing on the fact that because Christianity, the medication was misguided, and that the brutal
ideas of justice presented by the powerful, influential people support the
reason why the Dark Ages were dark. The "heretics" were slaughtered
in brutal ways, and anyone brought to the court (innocent or not) were subject
to harsh, unfair treatments. Society may not have necessarily degraded, by its development
slowed down. The average people were lost in this dark reality. This was another reason why there was the lack of technology
improvement.
The last important factor of judging the darkness
of an age is to look at the significant historical events. One of the first was
about Clovis, who conquered much of Gaul and became the first ruler to unite
Frankish people. While it did bring less fighting for a brief period between
the French people, the land was split between Clovis’ sons, which then lead to
more conflicts. He was also one of the first examples of a ruler using
Christianity for his own advantage. Siding with the Pope brought advantages in
resources and moral, as the soldiers were now warriors of Christianity. It
didn't change the fact that they were brutal in fighting and in justice. This
would mark the trend of misconception or simple twisting of Jesus's words, and
it was generally a dark thing. Another important event was the Justinian
Plague. It happened in the Byzantine Empire, just east of Europe. The
Bubonic Plaque first surfaced there, which easily killed between 30-50% of the
population. The empire could've been considered more "civilized" than
feudal Europe, and the plaque destroyed any hopes for a return of the
glory of the Roman Empire. What was worst was that more plagues were
to come in Europe.
Many positive events during the Dark Ages
represented slow improvements. In order for a "dark age" to begin and
end, it must go from dark to bright. Considering the terrible conditions for
general lives and the terrible events that destroyed more life, the Dark Ages
should be considerably dark. What can come next would only be improvements, as
it can't be any worse. This in fact is a supporting example in why the Dark
Ages were dark, which counters any abundance of "positive" events. One such event was for Charles the Hammer in the
Battle of Tours against Muslims. While it did save Christianity for priests in
Gaul, the average life didn’t improve from this victory. It was however still a
positive event that just contributed little to daily lives. The time of
Charlemagne's reign as the Holy Roman Emperor seemed to be the most
idyllic time of that period. He brought a level of education, which pleased the
“prayers” and slightly benefited the others. There was a higher level of
stability as he kept a watch on his “vassals” to prevent betrayal or fighting
between them. However Vikings have been detracting the lives of villages in
Britain near the time of Charlemagne’s death, and it took away most of what
little the people had. With constant and yet unpredictable raids on towns, the
life went poorer across the whole continent due to the ability of Viking boats
to travel through rivers into mainland. To counter this, Alfred the Great built
many strong fortifications to avoid the Vikings, and it turned out successful.
The peasants had better security, and this contributed greatly to normal lives.
The very last event was the Crusades. It was
the one time in which Christianity finally worked to help end the Dark Ages.
The united holy force was able to gain contact and information with foreigners.
First, the people were heavily united. Second of all, the barrier of isolation
was broken. This lead to trade, communication, cooperation, new
interests, and simply more potenial for development of society. All these were gained through the Crusades, and the long bloody
war even thrilled the peasants. They finally had a chance to fight for God,
while also having a chance at a different life. They were eager to be placed in
heaven after their deaths, whether it were to be in battle or not. This
symbolized the very end of the Dark Ages. These were events because they were
light that shined from the darkness. Events are meant to have an historical impact. If the timeline passed the Dark Ages and stopped at the modern times, then it would be a considerable rise in development. Positive events happen because life was dark the first place. In this very argument, the
bright events were supporting the darkness of the Dark Ages. The dark As explainedevents
merely stimulated the darkness.
The people's normal lives generally downgraded
from the life during the Roman Empire, and the buildings and art seemed to
follow. Early death was normal for them, and sometimes even wished for. The
events may seem mainly positive, but it was because that life was terrible that
made the events shine. Historic events were meant to change things after all,
and in this case, it was improvement. In order for the Dark Ages to end,
improvement was necessary, which explains the sudden rise of brightness towards
the end. Life was dark, and that was why there were light. At the end, this era
couldn't be lighter than what came before and what came after. The improvements
of society were slow during these times, and the whole continent was dark
alright.
